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Stewart wins 360 Nationals, NSCS Speed Week title
Andrew Kunas, NSCS Publicist
ALGER, Wash. – Shane Stewart was busy making some Skagit Speedway history and scored two big pay days for himself and car owner Mike Doyle, as he won the Bob's Burgers & Brew Skagit 360 Nationals on Saturday night.
Along with the $10,000 check for winning the 40-lap main event - his third Northwest Sprint Challenge Series victory in five races this week - Stewart earned $2,000 for winning the Northwest Speed Week title. It was Stewart's second Speed Week title this season as he already won the Ohio Speed Week with the All-Star Circuit of Champions.
Stewart, out of Bixby, Okla. started the event on the outside pole as a result of finishing second in the A-Scramble. Stewart took the lead from inside pole sitter Roger Crockett of Medford, Ore. and led all 40 laps. Only once was Stewart truly threatened, as local hero Brock Lemley showed himself to Stewart on a couple of occasions in the latter half of the race. Lemley, however, was unable to take advantage.
Stewart also joined elite company in Skagit Speedway's history books, joining Bobby Burrow and Steve Kent as only the only drivers to have won both the Dirt Cup and the Skagit 360 Nationals.
"To be in a category with the two of them is an honor," Stewart said. "It's special."
Stewart, driving the Mike Doyle No. 1 Shaver-powered Maxim, took the lead on the initial start, which was called off after seventh-starting Casey Adams, the 18-year-old Alberta driver who finished third in his first visit to Skagit Speedway on Friday, went tumbling down the front stretch.
Stewart successfully took the lead on the next start attempt and took off. Crockett, who entered the night with an 83-point lead over Mitch Olson in the NSCS standings, saw his night suddenly end on lap eight when he broke a U-Joint in the Henderson Motorsports No. 7N Bailey Bros. Eagle. Crockett's point lead took a major hit as he finished 23rd and Olson finished third in the Mike Olson No. 98m Shark-powered Eagle.
Lemley, out of Burlington, Wash. inherited second place after Crockett's misfortune and was unable to catch Stewart for a time until they entered traffic. Lemley closed in and challenged Stewart on lap 14, but it was Stewart who made the right moves.
"I saw Brock stick his nose under me a couple of times," Stewart said. "I learned running with the (World of) Outlaws that even though you're in traffic you have to keep a pace."
Lemley completed a solid week, being the only driver to have finished in the top five in all five Speed Week races. He finished second to Stewart in the Speed Week standings and was somewhat satisfied with his runner-up finish on Saturday, though he admitted he wanted badly to put his name on the winner's trophy.
"I'm really happy with our week," said Lemley, whose runner-up was his best finish of the week in the Kentch Bros. No. 40 Triple X. "It was way more than we expected; at least it was for me. You'd think it'd be good enough to win but there's this guy named Shane who was a little better."
Lemley scored the NSCS victory at Skagit on May 12.
Olson, who calls Puyallup, Wash. home, won Friday's preliminary event and earned his fourth top-five finish of the week on Saturday. Olson briefly took second place from Lemley in traffic on lap 37, but the pass was negated by a yellow flag for the stalled car of Seth Bergman. With Crockett's 23rd place finish, Olson knew he will be much closer to Crockett in the standings.
"It's really big," said Olson. "They don't make many mistakes. If you don't take advantage when they have problems, you'll never catch them. I wish the track were a little bit more slick. Traffic was big as usual, but (front runners) could go anywhere they wanted. They were a little faster than us."
After the final caution, Stewart ran away on the restart and cruised to the victory, capping off a big week for him.
"I can't ask for a better week, to work with a new car and a crew chief (Paul Silva) I've never worked with," Stewart said. "The car was good from the get go, and we were lucky. Luck is part of racing, but you also have to make your own luck."
Defending track champion Steve Kilcup of Sedro-Woolley, Wash. started ninth and ran in the top ten the entire race before finishing a strong fourth in the M&S Motorsports No. 18 Shark-powered Eagle. Jonathan Allard, the two-time Dirt Cup champion out of Chico, Calif. finished fifth after transferring from the B-Main in the Morrie Williams No. 0 Shark-powered Maxim. Allard, who was using his third different motor of the week, had started 19th.
Defending Skagit 360 Nationals champion Travis Rutz of Langley, Brit. Col. started 22nd after transferring out of the B-Main. Rutz wowed the crowd by passing several cars and moving his way up to seventh by the end of the third lap. Rutz then made a bold, diving move below Shawn Rice going into turn one for sixth on lap ten, before pulling off the same move in the same part of the track two laps later on Kilcup for fifth.
He eventually passed Olson and J.J. Hickle to move into third. Rutz's jaw-dropping run ended as his motor blew and he spun as he was going through turn four on lap 35. The fourth-running Hickle and three others had nowhere to go and piled together with Rutz, blocking the track and forcing track officials to throw the red flag. Rutz was credited with 18th and Hickle 19th, respectively.
Defending 410 sprint car track champion Travis Jacobson of Lake Stevens, Wash. also transferred out of the B-Main and started 20th. Like Allard, he also advanced 14 positions and finished sixth aboard the Roger Oudman No. 7o Shark-powered Rocket. Shawn Rice, out of Tacoma, finished seventh in the RAM Racing No. 76 Shark-powered Rocket and was the last car on the lead lap. St. Albert, Alberta's Jeff Hodgson, who started fifth, finished eighth in the Ryan Hodgson No. V8 Wesmar Rocket. Rod Perkins of Anacortes, Wash. finished ninth in his own No. 69p Triple X and Cory Chamberlain of Coquitlam, Brit. Col. rounded out the top ten in his own No. 10c Richmond Rocket.
Stanwood, Wash.'s Jared Peterson, who turned 16-years-old on Friday, finished 14th and former Northern Sprint Tour champion and fourth-place points man Billy Nutter of Central Point, Ore. finished 16th. Snohomish, Wash. star Seth Bergman, who entered the night sixth in points, transferred out of the B-Main also and finished 17th. Top NSCS rookie contender Robbie Vaughn of Snohomish, Wash. finished 22nd after making contact with the slowing Crockett on lap eight.
Jason Bloodgood, who has won three main events at Skagit in weekly competition, won the B-Main and finished 13th. Eight cars transferred from the B-Main, which was 20 laps in length. Bloodgood was followed by Dan Pierson, Allard, Jacobson, Barry Martinez, Rutz, Vaughn and Bergman.
Greg Sandquist won the 15-lap C-Main race, taking Craig Stidham, Alberta's Marc Dupperon and rookie Jon Farrell with him to the B-Main. Idaho's Randy Pierce won the 15-lap D-Main and took Andy Jacobson with him to the C-Main.
Crockett won the A-Scramble over Stewart, Hickle, Lemley, Hodgson and Olson. Pierson won the B-Scramble and Craig Stidham the C-Scramble. The finish in each scramble determined the first three rows for each of their respective mains.
Sixty-eight, a record for the Northwest's touring dirt 360 sprint car series, took part in Friday's show. Due to scratches, that total was not matched on Saturday but two more cars came, making it 70 different race teams who competed in the 18th edition of Skagit Speedway's showcase for 360 sprint cars. 2007 was the first year the event was on the schedule of a touring series.
More information on the Northwest Sprint Challenge Series and its drivers can be found online at www.racenscs.com.
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Northwest Sprint Challenge Series
Final Night – Bob's Burgers & Brew Skagit 360 Nationals
Skagit Speedway
Alger, WA
July 28, 2007
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
Scratched cars will be noted in respective mains they were originally slated to start in based on accumulated points from Friday's event.
D-Main (15 laps): 1. 12p Randy Pierce, 2. 55 Andy Jacobson, 3. 75 Kevin Smith, 4. 5x Chuck Ashe, 5. 15d Dan Dunlap, 6. 99 Tyler Pinceman, 7. 22c Blake Cook, 8. 5 Todd Sparks, 9. 14 Kelleigh Johnson, 10. 15p Steve Parker, 11. 3c Daniel Cernich, 12. 7ak Steve Martin, 13. 92 Todd Heikes, DNS – 1m Drew MacDonnell, 2z Todd Zeitler, 7t Wes Tyra, 9a Steve Dyer, 11d Jeff Delte, 22 Geoff Beck, 44h Michael Harris, 57 Bud Ashe. Top four finishers transfer to C-Main. Dan Dunlap also transfers as result of scratch from C-Main field.
C-Scramble (6 laps): 1. 3s Craig Stidham, 2. 19 Greg Sandquist, 3. 51 Jon Farrell, 4. 39c Marc Dupperon, 5. 6x Kevin Pylant, DNS – 65 Brendan Boyce. Finish determines first six starting positions of C-Main.
B-Scramble (6 laps): 1. 3p Dan Pierson, 2. 38 Jason Bloodgood, 3. 0 Jonathan Allard, 4. 8e Evan Funk, 5. 0J Jay Cole, 6. 7k Danny Kirkpatrick. Finish determines first six starting positions of B-Main.
A-Scramble (6 laps): 1. 7N Roger Crockett, 2. 1 Shane Stewart, 3. 7 J.J. Hickle, 4. 40 Brock Lemley, 5. V8 Jeff Hodgson, 6. 98m Mitch Olson. Finish determines first six starting positions of A-Main.
C-Main (15 laps): 1. 19 Greg Sandquist, 2. 3s Craig Stidham, 3. 39c Marc Dupperon, 4. 51 Jon Farrell, 5. 24e Nick Evans, 6. 6x Kevin Pylant, 7. 08 Steve Vague, 8. 5sp Jason York, 9. 9j J.J. Dishneau, 10. 4e Nick Engberg, 11. 73 Danielle Huson, 12. 12p Randy Pierce, 13. 15d Dan Dunlap, 14. 7d Josh DeWitt, 15. 5x Chuck Ashe, 16. 26f Shane Forte', 17. 24b Jayme Barnes, 18. 4x Chris Adams, 19. 75 Kevin Smith, 20. 55 Andy Jacobson, DNS – 65 Brendan Boyce. Top four finishers transfer to B-Main.
B-Main (20 laps): 1. 38 Jason Bloodgood, 2. 3p Dan Pierson, 3. 0 Jonathon Allard, 4. 7o Travis Jacobson, 5. 66 Barry Martinez, 6. 8 Travis Rutz, 7. 4r Robbie Vaughn, 8. 23a Seth Bergman, 9. 3s Craig Stidham, 10. 57c Chris Schmelzle, 11. 39c Marc Dupperon, 12. 19 Greg Sandquist, 13. 68 Rob Held, 14. 7k Danny Kirkpatrick, 15. 51 Jon Farrell, 16. 24e Nick Evans, 17. 8e Evan Funk, 18. 91 Derek Ingalls, 19. 77 Mike Sather, 20. 0J Jay Cole. Top eight finishers transfer to A-Main.
A-Main (40 laps): 1. 1 Shane Stewart, 2. 40 Brock Lemley, 3. 98m Mitch Olson, 4. 18 Steve Kilcup, 5. 0 Jonathan Allard, 6. 7o Travis Jacobson, 7. 76 Shawn Rice, 8. V8 Jeff Hodgson, 9. 69p Rod Perkins, 10. 10c Cory Chamberlain, 11. 4 Tim Gee, 12. 66 Barry Martinez, 13. 38 Jason Bloodgood, 14. 9p Jared Peterson, 15. 98s Bob Stevens, 16. 3N Billy Nutter, 17. 23a Seth Bergman, 18. 8 Travis Rutz, 19. 7 J.J. Hickle, 20. 14a Cody Adams, 21. 3p Dan Pierson, 22. 4r Robbie Vaughn, 23. 7N Roger Crockett, 24. 12a Casey Adams.
Lap leaders: Shane Stewart 1-40
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NSCS: The Northwest Sprint Challenge Series
www.racenscs.com
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